Verbis Diablo
by MonsterSlut
Summary: When Esme Nighthallow was born her family celebrated, the first female to be born into the Nighthallow line for generations. Growing up she had the best of the best but when she turned sixteen life changed. Exiled from the only home she's ever known Esme embarks on her own private quest to discover why the Devil is hunting her and what role her mother plays in her twisted fate
1. Chapter 1

**++++++ Yeah I know...another fic...I can't help it. I've been meaning to do a Mortal Instruments fic for a while and the recent release of Shadowhunters had helped me spit one out.**

 **This will have canon pairings:**

 **JacexClary**

 **SimonxIzzy**

 **AlecxMagnus**

 **JocelynxLuke**

 **I'll work on relationships later.**

 **A special thanks to** **Suki Uchiha Lamprouge for letting me bounce ideas and listening to my insane ramblings when I need a mind to bounce them off.**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

 **I do not own ++++++**

 **One**

"Oh my God it's raining!" she squealed in delight as a raindrop fell on her nose. "Babe it's raining!"

He laughed to himself whilst the two of them made their way through the abandoned church courtyard. "We've seen it rain before."

She giggled. "Yes I know. But this is American." She spun around and screamed with excitement before she started to dance angelically through the pouring rain.

He watched her with a look of love and adoration on his face. "It's just rain," he told her with a smile.

She stopped, grinning as happily as a child on Christmas. As she went to open her mouth to speak, a soft musical melody wafted through the abandoned church yard.

The two of then glanced around searching for the source of the music before finally settling on an entryway that used to be a doorway, the wooden doors were rotted away leaving only the huge metal hinges that used to hold them in place.

"What on earth is that?" she questioned. "Is there someone here? The tour guide said this place was deserted."

"Has been for thousands of years," he told her. "Makes me wonder why the American's haven't knocked it down and built an apartment building yet."

She got up and grabbed his arm. "Let's go check it out!" she grinned before dragging him into the church.

"This guy at the hostel said to be back before midnight," he argued as she dragged him inside.

She frowned but ignored him.

He did however have to admit the melody was infectious. He followed her as she followed the music through the church. This place would have been beautiful once upon a time. He could imagine the men and women of the clothe rushing about to serve their god, their prayers, their wishes for peace on earth.

Now days the idea of religion was a fleeting thing, nothing what it used to be like but the idea still had it fanatics and true believers.

"What ya thinking about?" she asked him after she pushed him up against the wall to kiss him.

"Church life," he answered.

"How boring," she huffed. "Nobility…now there is something much more exciting…sitting around fucking each other all day?" she grinned. "And boy that gives me an idea." She kissed him again.

He pulled away. "I can't," he answered. "I'm Catholic."

She pushed herself away from him. "You know I'm not going to wait forever. I have needs you know."

"Let's just find the source of the music," he frowned.

"I wanna go back to the hostel," she scowled before she stormed off into the darkness.

He sighed before he went to follow her.

Then she screamed.

He took off running into the darkness, tripping when his foot caught on something. He cried out when he hit the ground, somewhere close to him he could hear a gurgling sound.

Suddenly the old torches on the walls burst into life.

His eyes widened in horror as he watched as something held up the leg of his girlfriend and was drinking the blood that was flowing from the limb. He looked backwards to see her lying on the ground bleeding from a savage wound in her throat and the left leg below the knee had been ripped off.

He screamed.

"Music to my ears," laughed a woman's voice from behind him.

He turned.

The thing that had attacked his girlfriend now had a form.

He gulped. "Are you-will you kill me?"

It laughed. "No, but I have plans for you. Virgins are so very hard to come by in this day and age."

He blinked, suddenly he found himself very afraid.

"Lights out leach!" came a voice from behind him. He barely managed to get out of the way as a wooden tipped arrow shot past him and buried itself in the chest of the young woman in front of him.

"Jesus!" he screamed, stumbling backwards.

Out of the shadows came a young woman…no…a teenager dressed head to toe in black leathers holding a bow in her hands. She crossed the hall and stood over his girlfriend's body drawing a glass sword from her side. Before he could object, she raised the sword and stabbed it through the still heart of his dying love.

"NO!" he screamed, rushing towards her.

She flung the bloodied sword out, stopping inches from his throat. "Leave this place, now." Watching as he stumbled back, a cocky smirk appeared on her face seconds before he ran off into the darkness. "Tragic," she muttered, staring at the bodies in the hall. "Yet entirely inconvenient. I'm going to be late."

Turning on her heels, Esme Ravenscar walked casually from the abandoned church like she'd never been there in the first place. There were other things to do besides killing demons that night for tonight, a party was happening, one of the greatest parties New York City…well more importantly Brooklyn, had ever seen.

Twirling her bow in her hands she made her way through the crowded city streets, the people around her completely oblivious to the warrior armed to the teeth walking amongst them.

At the age of eighteen, Esme Ravenscar, formally Nighthallow was a Shadowhunter in exile.

Born as the first girl in a hundred years to the Nighthallow line, her birth had been a celebrated affair. For months and months, the Nighthallow's celebrated, a girl, at last. Growing up she received the best of the best education in everything-art, weaponry, combat, tactics, strategy, myth and lore but when she turned sixteen, everything changed.

Suddenly finding herself hunted, Esme was forced from the only home she'd ever known and out into the mundane world where life was hard, harder than anything she'd ever faced before. By chance, Esme managed to find herself employment with a warlock, a rather infamous warlock by the name of Magnus Bane, self-proclaimed High Warlock of Brooklyn, whom she was reduced from Shadowhunter to messenger but it gave her a roof over her head and the warlock was quite funny in certain ways. Sometimes her job description varied from what she liked but it was a job and she had no reason to complain.

Technically Esme wasn't considered a Shadowhunter, but she hadn't been stupid enough to stay and let them strip her of the marks she already had, making her vulnerable. She still called herself a Shadowhunter and that was all that counted in her mind. Stuff the rest.

Standing at five feet, two inches tall with dark brown hair and frighteningly clear blue eyes, Esme was considered rather striking for a teenager. Her striking looks matched her sharp wit and even sharper personality, there was nothing she couldn't do if she put her mind to it.

With her last errand for the evening complete, Esme was heading home when she came across the mundane couple and the vampire which is why she was now late, later than she would have liked.

As she stood in a crowd of mundanes, waiting for them to cross the street, a cold shiver ran down her spine. Turning her head, she gasped. "Mother?" Esme whispered.

Standing through the crowd stood her mother but not what she knew her to be. Growing up, her mother had been a quiet woman but very, very stern. She would have never worn what she was wearing now…a blood red silk dress that left barely anything to the imagination.

"Esme…" Her voice echoed on the wind. It was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

"Mother?" Esme whispered again. She'd always thought that her mother was back in Idris with the rest of her family, pretending that she never existed in the first place. Clearly this was not the case. The woman bore the marks of a Shadowhunter but there was also some kind of symbol marked into the flesh of her neck, one which the exile had never seen before.

"He's coming, Esme," she answered in an ethereal tone. "He's coming, Esme…it's time to pick a side…pick the right one." Esme blinked and suddenly her mother stood in front of her…this woman was wrong…simply wrong. "So pretty…" she whispered, "those eyes…they're the eyes of the devil…I want to rip them out." Extending her hands, those blood red fingernails turned into sharp, deadly claws.

Esme backed away and fell into the group behind her. Left there on her ass, Esme realized she was looking at nothing but thin air. "Oh mother….what have you done?"


	2. Chapter 2

**++++++ So I'll clear some things before I continue, this will be along the lines of the original story line. For now it's just covering City of Bones.**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

 **I do not own ++++++**

 **Two**

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

Standing at the entrance of the New York Institute, arms crossed against her chest, she waited with baited breath as her young charges came down the stairs decked out and ready to party. "Where do you think you're going against orders?" she hissed, voice laced with venom and ice.

Gabriella Herondale had only been at the New York Institute for forty-eight hours and had already found cause for concern amongst the inhabitants living there. As the granddaughter of the Clave's Inquisitor, Imogen Herondale, Gabriella had one task here and that was the assess the fitness of the Lightwood's in their management of the Institute, a task she gladly took on.

Right now…things we're looking too good for the Lightwood family and it had started with an ordinary mundane girl by the name of Clarissa Fray.

"Can I asked where you think you're going?" Gabriella demanded the group of teens. "You weren't given the green light to go out so what exactly are you doing?" A by the books kind of Shadowhunter, Gabriella had already heard one Jace Wayland curse her with demonpox the moment she arrived.

"Gabriella," Jace frowned, seeing her standing there in front of the door. "We're heading out."

"I can see that," she replied, not budging. "I was informed of your little adventure with the Silent Brothers and the result of that adventure. Magnus Bane, I believe." Gabriella's arrival at the New York Institute had been rather sudden, they hadn't even been informed of her arrival until she arrived on their doorstep with enough clothes for an extended stay. The official reason was for an evaluation of how the Institute was run-unofficially, Gabriella's werewolf boyfriend had moved to New York from London so it was time for a change.

"You gonna run to grandmummy and dob on us?" Jace teased.

Gabriella glared him down. "I would hold the tongue if I were you. The Lightwood's are under evaluation for the way they run things. They can easily be replaced by a more efficient family. Bringing mundanes into the institute is virtually unheard of. It's not looking good."

"Go back to Idris, Gabby," snipped Isabelle Lightwood in all her sixteen years.

Gabriella shot her a glare that could kill if glares could kill. "Do not call me Gabby," she snapped. "Alec you know better than this."

Jace laughed. "Oh look at you…been told off by your betrothed."

Alec Lightwood gave Jace a glare that could kill in equal amounts of pain. It was a sore spot between him and Gabriella being betrothed from such a young age, despite Gabriella being three years older than him and the past indiscretions of the Lightwood family, the contract still stood in the eyes of the Clave.

"Oh look," Jace smirked, "matching death glares…please organize the wedding feast already."

"Please." Clarissa, or as she preferred to be called, Clary, stepped out from behind Jace and her mundane friend. "Please, I need this block on my mind remove. I have to save my mother."

"I wouldn't know, my mother was an unfit wreck and gave up the right to raise me," Gabriella deadpanned, "don't play the mother card on me, little mundane. Back upstairs, now. You're not even full Shadowhunter's yet."

"Lighten up, Gabby," Jace scoffed, making the move to walk by her.

Gabriella swung her leg out and knocked him to the ground. "Do not call me Gabby."

"Gabriella," Clary frowned, "please. I just want my life to go back to normal but to do that I need to go find this Magnus Bane guy to help me. You say that they're not full shadowhunter's yet. Well shouldn't one like you be helping me?"

The Shadowhunter bit her lip. "Very well!" Gabriella huffed. "If you insist on going then I'm going with you."

"Huh?" Jace grunted. "You're not."

"Think of it as an evaluation on what the Lightwood's are teaching you," Gabriella suggested, flicking her dirty blonde hair off her shoulder.

It was only then did Jace realized that instead of the Shadowhunter gear she had been wearing the past few days had been replaced with a tiny mini dress made out of mostly fabric and lace-he did not want to know where she had her weapons in that outfit. She was wearing heals higher than any Izzy owned and wearing just as much makeup. She grabbed her jacket from the floor and allowed them to walk by her.

"It's going to be a long night," Gabriella muttered under her breath.

 **-XXX-**

"Keep up, Clarissa," Gabriella barked, marching confidently down the largely industrial neighborhood in Brooklyn. In six inch heals it was hard for Clary to see how both Isabelle and Gabriella could both walk…no…practically run in heals that high.

From the Institute the group of Shadowhunter plus mundanes had taken the subway to get to Brooklyn, Isabella was in charge of the directions despite the fact that Gabriella knew exactly where they were going. Beside Isabelle stumbled Clary's mundane friend Simon Lewis feigning interest in the sensor she was using. Occasionally Gabriella would see him taking a quick look at her boobs.

"Gabby how on earth do you know where we're going?" Jace asked, matching pace beside the blonde warrior.

"My grandmother has sent me, on occasion to speak with the warlock," she answered coldly.

"Does anyone else think they look like brother and sister?" Simon suddenly asked, fiddling with his glasses on his face.

Gabriella and Jace stopped dead in the middle of the street, Isabelle and Alec almost crashing straight into the two blondes.

"I'd actually rather die of demon pox," Gabriella snipped, walking ahead of the group. She continued on away from them until she found what she was looking for. The street was lined with motorcycles; black, sleek and silvery motorcycles. "You didn't imply this party had vampires in attendance. I do not like vampires."

"They don't like you, Gabby," Jace smirked, patting her shoulder.

"Do not, call me Gabby!" Gabriella snapped, ready to give chase. Alec put his hand on her shoulder to stop her from going after him. She turned around, "as much as I appreciated your efforts to protect your _parabatai_ I wish Jace would take this seriously. He's breaking Clave rules and flaunting it like it's a new dress. This will have serious consequences."

"I don't like this as much as you," Alec replied. Now it was just the two of them standing outside the building. "The sooner we get this sorted, the sooner we can get everything back to normal."

"Are you two swapping wedding vows!" Jace called out. "Come on!"

Gabriella and Alec gritted their teeth and followed the sound of Jace's voice. After all, he wasn't hard to find considering he loved the sound of his own voice so much.

Isabelle was at the head of the group. She pressed the doorbell and waited.

No one came.

She pushed it a second time and almost a third time before the door was wrenched open by a young woman wearing a red and black dress. Gabriella narrowed her eyes, she looked so familiar but the Shadowhunter couldn't place it.

"Children of the Nephilim were not invited," the raven haired beauty answered.

"I have an invitation!" Isabelle grinned, waving it in front of her blue eyes. "These are my plus ones."

She paused and shook her head. "Magnus must have been drunk when he handed them out." She stepped aside, "come in. Try not to murder any of his guests."

"If Children of the Nephilim were not invited, what are you doing here?" Jace asked, staring the woman down.

"We'll be having none of that here," she replied, plucking the stele from Jace's hands quickly and rather suddenly. "Keep it in your pants."

Jace looked slightly offended.

"I know you," Gabriella gasped. "Esme Nighthallow. You're wanted by the Clave!"

"It's Ravenscar," she replied, "and so help you if you try and take me here and now because I will end you. Shadowhunter's greater than you have failed to do what you desire to do so. Now please, come in and remember what I said, no killing the guests."

"We're looking for Magnus Bane!" Clary cut in.

"Upstairs," Esme directed them. "Enjoy the party."


	3. Chapter 3

**++++++ Kinda hoping this story picks up soon in the amount of stats and stuff...**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

 **I do not own ++++++**

 **Three**

"You changed your name," Gabriella frowned, stalking Esme as she walked up the stairs, "The Nighthallow name is widely respected and beloved in Idris and you dropped it. Why?"

Esme remained silent.

Gabriella studied the girl from behind, there was that familiar shadowhunter air about her but there was something else…something almost ancient and powerful about her. The shadowhunter had no knowledge of the crime a sixteen-year-old girl could have committed against the Clave but it had to have been something dangerous…something evil to have them set out to strip her of her marks. "I'm talking to you," she snapped, grabbing Esme's arm.

Esme stopped mid-way up the stairs and turned around. Her blue eyes not on Gabriella but staring, seemingly, right into Clary's soul. "You were here not six months ago…where is Jocelyn?" she inquired.

Clary's eyes widened. "You know my mother?"

"Of course," she replied. "Your mother has been a friend to me for some time. In fact, it was Jocelyn who got me this job in the first place." Esme looked to Jace, "please explain to me what is going on?"

"We need to get Magnus to remove the block on Clary's mind," Jace explained.

"Wayland!" Gabriella hissed. "She's the enemy."

"And from where I stand, I can see that she's the only way we have to get to Magnus," Jace snapped. "Shut your trap for once, Gabby."

"What exactly is the party for?" Isabelle asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Esme continued on up the stairs. "Chairman Meow. He's Magnus' cat." She walked through an open set of doors and into one of the strangest gathering's any mundane were to set their eyes on. "There's one rule here, shadowhunter's. Do. Not. Murder. The. Guests. Enjoy." Brushing her dress down, Esme walked off as Gabriella made a mental note to send a message to the Clave and let them know she'd discovered a fugitive.

Clary looked to Jace. "I need to talk to her, she knew my mum-and me apparently." Before anyone could stop her, she followed Esme from the party and into a more private study/library. "Excuse me, Esme?"

Esme flopped down in a seat and picked up a book to sit it on her lap. "Take a seat, Clary."

Clary sat down across from her. "You knew my mum?" she asked.

She nodded. "Yes. Jocelyn is a friend. We'd meet up for tea twice a week…I take it you're here because your mother is missing?"

Clary nodded.

Esme sighed. "Understand, Clary, I warned your mother that what she did to you was wrong in so many ways. I warned her."

"What did she do to me?" Clary asked her.

"She blinded your inner eye," came a voice behind her.

Clary turned to a young Asian man watching them both. She blinked, struggling to remember where she had seen those cat-like yellow-green eyes before. "I'm sorry but-Magnus Bane?"

He nodded. "Yes. And you are Clary. Esme, do you mind, I need a moment with Clary."

Esme got to her feet and left the room, still clutching the book in her hands. Memories flooded her of the day that she'd met Jocelyn in the alley behind _Garroway Books_.

It had been two months after she'd fled Idris and had been unfortunate enough to have been on the receiving end of vampire gang but lucky enough to escape. It had been the first time that Esme had really understood that she wasn't the center of the universe like she had been raised to believe.

Jocelyn and her friend Luke Garroway had nursed Esme back to health and in turn she explained everything to them. Having hidden from the Clave for almost fourteen years, Jocelyn brought her to Magnus and in turn Magnus gave her a job as his assistant-very loose word assistant.

Gabriella was leaning against the wall sipping on some kind of clear liquid that looked like water but had a flowery smell to it. Watching her watch the room, Esme crossed over to her. "Yes?" she asked, seeing Esme wanted something from her.

"My mother," Esme replied. "I know you don't have to help me or speak to me but I need to know something…is she still in Idris?"

Gabriella snorted. "Well I suppose you're owed the truth. Gwendoline Nighthallow went insane. Six months after you were expelled from the Clave your mother murdered her husband and your siblings during the night. Your paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents were also slaughtered during the night."

Esme gasped. "What?"

"Oh yes, she slit their throats and burned the house to the ground," Gabriella informed her, chatting away like one does when they simply talk about what book they read or what music they liked. "I was amongst the party sent out after her and when we found her-" The young woman lifted the hem of her dress up to show Esme a set of old claw scars across her thigh. "-she was very well protected by Forsaken and also by demons. Your mother's name has been stripped from all Clave records for what she did."

Esme bit her lip. "Excuse me," she muttered, fleeing to her room. She closed the door behind her and sat down on her bed. There she sat for what seemed like a lifetime thinking about Gabriella had said what her mother had done. Her mother's life WAS the Clave.

So today she hadn't been hallucinating.

 _"_ _He's coming, Esme," she answered in an ethereal tone. "He's coming, Esme…it's time to pick a side…pick the right one." Esme blinked and suddenly her mother stood in front of her…this woman was wrong…simply wrong. "So pretty…" she whispered, "those eyes…they're the eyes of the devil…I want to rip them out." Extending her hands, those blood red fingernails turned into sharp, deadly claws._

Esme stood and crossed to the mass of books on the shelves against the wall. "Right…" she muttered, "let's start with that mark on your neck."

 **-XXX-**

"ESME!"

That was the sound she woke up to a few hours later.

Not the sound of music or dancing or people having a good time, just her name being screamed out…and not in a good way…not that she'd know anyway.

"ESME!"

With a sigh, the girl forced herself up out of her wingback chair and she trudged down the stairs.

Magnus sighed. "ESME!"

A few minutes later the exile hit the landing rubbing her eyes with a book in her hands. "What? I was sleeping."

"Red's rat friend was taken by vampires," Magnus answered unsympathetically.

Clary looked like she was about ready to kill him and Jace just looked bored. Gabriella on the other hand looked far too pleased with the situation, Alec and Isabelle were nowhere in sight.

"Why do I care?" Esme yawned.

"I think you should go with them," Magnus teased, pushing Chairman Meow back with his foot so he couldn't escape.

Esme made a sound in the back of her throat like a strangled laugh. "I don't think so. And have that kidnap me and take me back to face judgment for something I know nothing about. No thank you."

"Think of it as repayment for what Jocelyn did for you," Magnus explained. "We knew this day would come. Jocelyn helped you because you were young and knew nothing of the world but also someone of your talents would be good to have on her side. Protect her daughter."

Esme sighed. "Fine, but I cannot fight vampires in my underwear. Excuse me." She turned and went to her room.

"Esme is a friend," Magnus warned Gabriella. "Do you even know why the Clave hunts her anyway?"

Gabriella shook her head. "I follow my orders."

"Blindly is seems," Magnus smirked. "Esme knows where the vampires hold up during the day. Best be following her."

Esme came back out strapping a quiver onto her back wearing a pair of black leather pants, matching boots and a blood red shirt underneath a black vest. She was decked out for a fight, quiver full of arrows, seraph blade strapped to her hip and a wooden stake tucked into each boot. "There's a Church nearby, you two might need to get some supplies.

"You answered my question," Jace replied. "I still think you should go back with Alec and Izzy," he told Gabriella.

The shadowhunter in question shook her head. "No. This is an evaluation, remember? Let's go get our weapons and rescue the rat."


	4. Chapter 4

**++++++ So if all goes well with this fic it will be broken up into six parts, each following the books in the series with some movie/TV series elements to it.**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

 **I do not own ++++++**

 **Four**

"Someone please explain to me why I'm out in the middle of the night to rescue a rat from vampires?" Esme huffed as they walked down Diamond Street towards the great big gothic church.

"We're rescuing my friend!" Clary argued.

Jace and Gabriella rolled their eyes, arms crossed against their chests. Esme looked at the two and shook her head. "Mundane," they both muttered under their breath.

"I'll wait here whilst you get your gear," Esme told them as they came to the wrought iron fence outside the church.

"Wait," Clary frowned, "you're not coming?"

"I don't do churches," Esme deadpanned.

"But-" Gabriella started only to be grabbed by Jace and dragged inside.

"Come on, Gabby," he teased.

"Don't call me Gabby!" Gabriella snapped.

Esme laughed and stayed back, leaning against fence to wait. She leant back and fiddled with her stele, the instrument that shadowhunters used to put runes onto their skin. Hers was custom made, given to her by her mother and made from adamas and daylight alexandrite decorated with silver skulls and roses-uncommon for most shadowhunters but she loved it.

As she drew a rune into her arm for stealth, Esme could hear people talking. She put her hand on her seraph blade, ready to draw it only to realise that the two teens who had been with Clary at the party were back, they were armed to the teeth.

"It's you from the party," Isabelle frowned, "what are you doing here?"

"I'd ask you the same thing," Esme replied. "But it's obvious since you're so well armed. The three are inside getting some supplies."

"What are you doing here?" Alec asked her.

"Helping Jocelyn," Esme answered. "And before you ask, they came to help," she told The three as they came out of the church. We need to take a subway back uptown," she explained, walking off.

"Back uptown?" Isabelle gasped. "You're kidding me?!"

"Izzy," Alec muttered.

"We're looking for a hotel off 116th," Esme explained. "The Children of the Night are holed up there. Are you sure you're alright breaking Clave rules?" She glanced at Gabriella but didn't say anything. She'd heard that Gabriella Herondale was on the list to become the next Inquisitor when her grandmother stepped down-this was of course just a rumour. As she walked, it was obvious that Gabriella was very close behind her, following her every move.

They found the hotel, finally, after an hour of looking, in a side street just off 116th like Esme had said. They'd actually walked past it twice, thinking it was just another abandoned apartment building, before Clary saw the hotel sign. It had come loose from a nail and was dangled hidden behind a stunted tree. It should have said _Hotel Dumont_ but some smart ass vampire had painted out the _N_ and replaced it with an _R_.

" _Hotel Dumort,_ " Jace said when Clary pointed it out.

"Cute," Esme muttered under her breath. "Hotel…of death!" she gasped making Gabriella giggle a little.

"Giggling like a two-year-old I see," Jace muttered right before Gabriella hit him in the back of the head. "Ouch!" he gasped.

"Thank the angel it wasn't your ugly face," Gabriella muttered.

"How exactly do you plan on getting inside?" Clary asked them. "I mean the whole place is boarded up. How do the vampires get inside?"

"They fly," Jace said, waving his hands around like a crazy person at the upper floors of the building.

"We don't fly," Clary pointed out.

"No," Jace agreed, "we don't."

"We don't fly," Isabelle added, "but we break and enter."

"How?" Clary inquired.

"Supply cellar," Esme answered. "The only reason I know this place is here is because I tracked a rabid vampire here once. It was agreed on equal terms to put her down. I came in through the supply cellar." She took the lead again and walked into the alley, unafraid of the garbage littering the street, she started ratting through the trash, Gabriella surprisingly going to help her. Eventually the two found a piece of metal grating with thin, rust coloured bars. She lifted it and threw it aside.

"Alright," Gabriella huffed, "Jace, you and Clary look for Simon. Alec, you and Isabelle will cover, going from room to room, floor to floor, Esme you're with me. We split in the lobby, back in ten."

"Oh what fun," Esme answered. She brushed her hands off and stepped into the darkness of the hole in the ground.

"She doesn't play well with others," Isabelle muttered.

"She's an outcast," Gabriella reminded her, jumping into the darkness.

They followed Esme inside, through the darkness she was confidently navigating her way through the hotel where the others needed their witchlights, she just strolled through like she owned the place. She was even humming.

"Split up," Gabriella ordered when they got to the lobby, "we'll cover more ground that way."

Clary tripped and hit the ground. She rolled over and went to get up but froze. Her bottom lip quivered and she screamed, pointing to the stairs surrounding the lobby. The stars were filled with people…well vampires. Row after row of vampires with their white faces looking down on them with amused expressions.

"Well spotted, Clary," Gabriella muttered.

Shapes came from the darkness, taking the shapes of vampires that surrounded them.

"STOP!" Esme shouted. "Hello…you remember little old me, don't you?"

"Esme Ravenscar." A raven haired vampire came out of the shadows. "Here we are again…this time you bring five shadowhunter's with you."

"Yeah-let's just dispel with the pleasantries," she sighed. "We're after a rat. A little brown rat-he's not one of you. He's a mundane…please hand him over, Lily. We'll be on our way."

"We didn't take any human boys home with us from the party," Lily objected. "That would have been a violation of the Covenant."

She frowned seeing a vampire holding a little, squirming brown rat. "That's Simon?" Esme asked Clary.

The red headed teenager nodded. "Yes. That's Simon."

Esme raised her bow. "You all know me. You know who I am. You know that I do not followed the teachings or the lore of the Clave. The rat, now Lily."

The vampire huffed at her. "Not going to happen, shadowhunter."

"Right well…don't say I didn't warn you," Esme shrugged. She fired her bow and the fight started.

Clary dove straight at the vampire holding Simon, she managed to get a hold of him only to have the vampires at her jacket. She stripped herself out of her jacket and ran to seek shelter from the fight.

Esme would never admit it but she was loving the fact that she was fighting shoulder to shoulder with fellow shadowhunter's after giving up that dream so long ago.

Gabrielle was so entranced in her battle that she failed to notice the vampire coming up behind her.

Esme cried out as the vampire claws cut into the flesh of her back.

Gabriella spun around. "What?"

"Pay attention," she snapped, diving into a crowd of vampires, seraph blade flashing.

Gabriella stabbed a vampire in the chest, killing it, she spun around and took out another one.

"Gabriella!" Alec shouted, tackling her to the ground. "By the angel, are you alright?"

Gabriella rubbed her head where the gash was. "I'll heal, thank you, Alec."

"Wait till you say yes first!" Jace shouted across the room. "Can't keep your hands off each other. Might as well have the wedding now."

Alec and Gabriella got to their feet and simultaneously stabbed a vampire in the chest, withdrawing their seraph blades in sync. "When we get back, I'm gonna hit your _parabatai_ where the sun don't shine," Gabriella warned Alec.

"Not going to stop you," Alex replied.

An arrow flew past her head and embedded itself into a female vampire's chest. Seconds later she exploded. Esme grinned, "it worked!" she laughed, using her bow to kill another vampire.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Gabriella snapped.

"Arrow packed with black powder," Esme grinned. "You can learn from mundanes after all." She loaded a bow and stepped back in a circle with Alec and Gabriella at her back, they were soon joined by Clary and the rat before long, Jace and Isabelle as the vampire encircled them.

"The situation could be worse," Esme shrugged.

"Could be worse!" Clary practically shrieked, clutching Simon the Rat in her arms. "Could be worse?"

The windows suddenly exploded inwards in a shower of broken glass. Each of the shadowhunter's whirled in astonishment, shock mixed with terror on their faces. Dozens of sleek shapes, four paws and low to the ground, their coats scattering moonlight and broken bits of glass. Their eyes were full of blue fire, and from their throats came a combined low growl that sounded like the roiling crash of a waterfall.

Werewolves.

"Now this," said Jace, "is a situation."

Gabriella smiled seeing the familiar form of a sleeker black wolf.

"Gabby's got the right idea!" Esme grinned. "Laugh in the face of death!"

"Don't call me Gabby," Gabriella snipped.

"See that lobby door?" Esme asked.

"Yeah?" Jace nodded.

"Duck," she grinned, loosening an arrow. A red feathered arrow flew through the air and hit the barricaded door with a _thud_. Seconds later it exploded. Esme, the only one smart enough to cover her ears did not have a ringing in them.

"You're insane!" Gabriella yelled.

"Insane is as insane does!" Esme laughed. "Out the door." She grabbed a handful of uncut diamonds from her pocket. She waited until everyone was out the door before she whispered under her breath. The diamonds exploded in a ray of ultra-violet light, protecting the doorway and their exit.

"What in the name of the angel is that?" Gabriella gasped.

"Like I said," Esme grinned, "you can learn a lot from the mundanes. It's sunlight trapped inside diamonds. It'll take me another month out in the sun to get them that powerful again but it's worth it. Now leg it whilst the bloodsuckers fight the puppies."

 **-XXX-**

Esme followed the ragtag group of teenagers back to the Institute, providing some cover for them before they reached consecrated ground.

Esme looked up at the Institute…by the angel it was beautiful, she thought to herself. It reminded her so much of home…it hurt.

"Come in," Gabriella invited her. "Please."

She shook her head. "No. I'd rather not."

"Gabriella!"

"In case you didn't notice," she hissed, "she's wounded."

Jace cocked an eyebrow. "Huh?" he grunted.

"I'm inviting her in," Gabriella told them all, "if this comes back on you, I will bear the brunt of it as I am the elder. Inside, now!" she barked. "Beside's I think Esme should know what she might have accidentally gotten herself into by allying herself with Jocelyn. She's a sitting target with Valentine out there."

Esme gasped. "Are you kidding me?"

"Inside!" Gabriella snapped.

Esme hung back. Gabriella grabbed her arm and led her inside.

Standing in the street wearing a blood red dress, Gwendoline Nighthallow grinned. "Soon…Esme…soon."

 **++++++ Before you ask-yes Alec is still gay, no Gabriella will not end up married to him...there's someone else for her which will be explored in either chapter 5 or chapter 6 where we get to learn more about Gabriella's family ++++++**


	5. Chapter 5

**++++++ Another day, another chapter.**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

 **I do not own ++++++**

 **Five**

Hodge Starkweather was furious.

So furious in face Gabriella and the teenage shadowhunters thought that he was going to pass out from lack of air to his lungs. He had been waiting for the rag tag group in the foyer like a statue until of course they had all come in.

Then he exploded.

Laying it all out bare before him like some kind of disobedient carpet rug Hodge yelled at them for lying about where they were going and for Gabriella letting them go despite her status as a fully-fledged shadowhunter. He threatened them with breaking the Law and banishment from the Clave, bringing shame to the great names of Lightwood, Wayland and Herondale.

At the end of his rant, he zeroed in on Jace, concluding that he was the little ringleader of this circus, his voice lowering to a dangerous level. "You've endangered other people with your wilfulness. This is one incident I will not allow you to shrug off!"

"I wasn't planning to," Jace said, holding his arm. "I can't shrug anything off. My shoulder is dislocated."

"And you!" he hissed, turning to Gabriella. "What would your grandmother think, wandering off and breaking the Covenant when you've got such a promising carer ahead of you?"

"Nothing if you don't tell her," Alec spoke up. "Gabriella only came with us because we were going with or without her permission."

Jace made kissing sounds to which Gabriella responded with punching him in his dislocated arm. Alec looked away from his _parabatai_ whistling.

Esme bit her lip to stop herself from laughing but still managed to catch Hodge's eye-mainly due to her hovering by Clary and a now human Simon. He let a small gasp escape from his mouth the moment his eyes fell on her.

"Gwendoline Nighthallow's daughter," he noted, "I may carry my fair share of sins but I serve out my punishment. Who allowed her inside?"

Gabriella stuck her hand up. "I did. She's hurt and she saved our asses back there. Least we can do is heal her up and send her on her way."

"Outside," Esme spoke up, "you mentioned Valentine?"

Gabriella frowned. "You know something?" she asked, seeing the look on her face.

She nodded. "From time to time I like to work on certain skills," Esme answered. "I heard a rumour that Valentine was back. There will be no Accords and no Covenant."

Everyone jerked around to look at her.

"Where did you hear that?" Hodge demanded to know.

"Like I said," Esme argued, "I was out-Central Park I think-yeah it was. Most all the downworlders are talking about it. Like how he paid a warlock to raise a pack of Raveners just a week ago. He brought his Forsaken to seek the Mortal Cup. When he finds it, there will be no peace between shadowhunters and downworlders, just war."

Gabriella frowned. "What else do you know?"

Esme shook her head. "I swore an oath to Jocelyn not to reveal anything she told me. The oath is binding and was done in front of Magnus-if you seek any answers, I suggest you seek out Lucian Graymark. You know him, Clary."

Clary raised an eyebrow. "No. I don't know anyone by the name of Lucian Greymark. Even with my memories all weird."

"You do," Esme objected. "In the mundane world he goes by the name Luke Garroway."

Clary shook her head. "No. I don't want to see Luke."

"I'll go," Gabriella volunteered.

"Yes you will," Hodge agreed.

"I'll take you," Esme volunteered.

"You need to be healed," Gabriella argued.

Esme ignored her and walked out the front doors, no longer holding any desire to be in this place any longer.

"Wait!" Gabriella shouted.

"Meet me at Magnus' lof-tomorrow, midday," Esme replied, taking her stele from insider her boot. "Glamour off, dress like a mundane." She made her way to the street with the funniest feeling in her gut that the events unfolding now were all because of Magnus and his stupid party.

 **-XXX-**

When Gabriella arrived at the loft at midday the next day, Esme was waiting for her. She marvelled at the girls outfit wishing she wasn't as pale or marked to be able to pull off a pair of mini shorts, a white shirt with some kind of blue box and a pair on sandals-Gabriella just wore black.

"I said dress like a mundane," Esme pointed out, "perhaps I should have added dress down…you look like you're going on a date."

Gabriella glared at her. "This is how I dress, Esme."

"You said my name," she smirked. "We have to take the subway to China Town," Esme explained.

The two of them disappeared underground for an hour, emerging in the stinking heat of China Town with ices-Gabriella was totally smitten with the sugary drink and they had to go back for seconds before they could continue on their way.

That amused Esme to no end.

They got to a Chinese restaurant called the _Jade Wolf_ and went inside where the inside was that of a police station abandoned a long time ago.

"Shadowhunter."

Esme smirked. "Yes, hello to you two Alaric."

The aging werewolf sighed. "I wish you'd stop coming here. Unfortunately Luke likes you." He shook his head. "Wait here."

Esme turned to say something to Gabby only to find that she was gone. She shook her head and sighed. "And here I thought I needed a leash for the puppies," she muttered. Walking around Esme eventually found Gabriella in the little kitchenette…she wasn't alone.

"What in the name of Raziel are you doing?" Esme gasped, head cocked to the side. There Gabriella was, locked in a passionate embrace with one of the wolves of the pack. "So that's why you dressed like you were on a date," Esme laughed seeing the shadowhunter and her werewolf lover. "Introduce me."

"Jess Cross," Gabriella sighed, "Esme Ravenscar."

"Nice to meet you, Jess," Esme smirked.

"Likewise," he replied, shaking her hand. He was British that's for sure. He was roughly the same age as Gabriella with shaggy brown hair and big brown eyes-incredibly tall, so much so he towered over Gabriella.

"So Gabriella Herondale has a werewolf lover?" Esme asked. "My, my, my. Forget the rescue mission, this will bring shame on the great name of Herondale fore sure," she laughed, mimicking Hodge.

"If you say anything!" Gabriella snapped.

Esme held her hands up. "Like I would. I'm not that vindictively cruel to judge someone for something they can't control,"

"Esme!" Alaric called. "Luke's free!"

Esme rolled her eyes as Gabriella kissed her-friend? Puppy? Lover?

"Jess was a mundane once," Gabriella whispered, walking beside Esme. "I was in London and on a hunt-he saved my life. Turns out he had the sight and could see the shadow world. The only reason we became anything was because I thought that he'd make a good CI. We started going out when I was eighteen and a full shadowhunter."

Esme raised an eyebrow.

"And he risked his life, got bit in the process," she explained. "I should have killed him but I didn't. I helped him that first full moon and continued ever since. When he came to America I came with him."

"So you requested New York?" she asked.

Gabriella nodded. "I did. I've been approved to stay," she explained, "no one knows yet. My grandmother wasn't happy and neither was my mother."

"What happens when your grandmother finds out?" Esme inquired.

"We'll come to that door when it opens," Gabriella sighed.

Esme shrugged and pushed open the door into Luke's office.

Luke Garroway's eyes were about as wide as dinner plates when he saw Gabriella. "Gabby?" he gasped.

"Uncle Luke!" she grinned, walking over to hug him.

"Uncle Luke?" Esme frowned, wrinkling her nose up at the situation. "Werewolf lover, werewolf uncle…okay," she shrugged.

"As much as I enjoy hearing from you," Luke smiled, messing up her hair, "and seeing you hear in the flesh…what are you doing here?"

"Valentine," Gabriella confessed. "I came here three days ago and was literally thrown into the deep end. Esme can't say anything because of the oath she swore."

Luke cocked an eyebrow. "You swore no oath."

Esme smirked. "I just don't sell out my friends. Talk to us about Valentine."


	6. Chapter 6

**++++++ Seriously I am loving Shadowhunters right now :)**

 **Anyway...I hope you enjoy**

 **I do not own ++++++**

 **Six**

Luke got out of his seat and crossed over to the window. "I can't tell you about Valentine."

Gabriella's jaw dropped. "Uncle Luke!" she objected. "You can't-"

"You look so much like your father," Luke told her, "those eyes though…like your mother is looking back at me. But…you are Imogen's…her taking you away from Amatis like that-Jocelyn ran because of Valentine and the Clave…the Clave can't be trusted and Gabriella you are the Clave."

"So what then?" Gabriella demanded to know.

"I don't know where Valentine is," Luke spoke, "I don't know where Jocelyn is. Clary thinks she's safe in the Institute but no one can be trusted…Esme will you protect Clary? Even if it's from the Clave?"

Esme nodded. "Of course. You know I will."

"You're only sticking your neck out because you owe Jocelyn," Gabriella argued. "We're Shadowhunters-this is our honoured duty."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah. Totally is your honoured duty…one thing I've learnt living like a mundane for two years is that Shadowhunter's are elite purists. They look down on anyone who isn't Shadowhunter. I don't even know why I went from having the best of everything to being hunted like a dog! Don't tell me of my crimes, instead just punish me. I was sixteen for fucks sake, what could I have done to warrant my name being stricken from the Clave books?"

Gabriella shook her head. "I don't either, I only know that you're wanted by the Clave still."

"I did nothing wrong," Esme warned her. "I still carry the marks and mark myself with runes to protect those who cannot protect themselves. I hunt down demons and downworlders who break the accords."

"I don't even know how this became a fight over you and me," Gabriella shrugged.

Esme pinched her nose, shaking her head as she sat down. "Luke…please? Tell us something that will lead us to the Mortal Cup."

"I don't know where it is," Luke confessed, "Jocelyn hid it well."

Gabriella sighed. "This whole trip was a waste of time."

Luke smirked. "I wouldn't call it a waste, you got to see Jess-it's the first time he's seen you since he came from London. He's fitting right in with the pack. Go spend some time with him."

Gabriella looked at Esme after she got to her feet. "I have to come up with something to tell the Clave."

"Tell them whatever you like," Esme shrugged. "Zero stuffs are given today," she told Gabriella, waving her hands in front of her.

She muttered under her breath as she stormed out of the office.

Luke sighed. "As much as I like having you here, Esme. I think it's best if you leave. I can't be dealing with Valentine and the issue with the Cup as the Accords are up to be resigned. Then there's also the fact of your mother."

Esme blinked. "I'm sorry-what about my mother?"

"She's hunting you," Luke told her. "Gwendoline managed to find me when I was looking at some of the damage to Jocelyn and Clary's place. Two days ago looking for you. Esme, something's wrong with her. She had two greater demons at her flanks and they were protecting her."

Esme cocked an eyebrow. "Luke…did you happen to get a look at the mark on her neck? I was too far away from her when I saw her the other day."

Luke took a piece of paper out of his pocket. "I drew it as best I could."

He handed it to her and on closer inspection she could see that it was in fact a rune but not like any she'd ever seen before. Shadowhunter runes were black and when faded, silvery in colour…not red. She narrowed her eyes. "I know this mark! It's like the rune a bride and groom draw on each other when they marry…except it's twisted…it says _Owned_."

"Valentine hunts the cup and Clary," Luke sighed, "Gwendoline hunts for you…I hope that they never meet. It won't be good for any of us."

Esme pocketed the paper and got up. "Thanks for nothing Luke," she winked. She headed out, sure that Gabriella was too busy with her lover to even notice that she was being ditched.

As she walked, Esme dug the paper from her pocket. Originally she had been heading back to Magnus' place but she changed directions and disappeared underground. This time of day, the subway was busy with people rushing about. Esme stood back in the crowd and drew the rune for concealment on her arm. She waited a few seconds for a train to clear the platform before she jumped onto the tracks.

Over the past few years, Luke had helped Esme collect her own store of shadowhunter knowledge, books filled to the brim with shadowhunter myths and lore, copies of the Grey Book and the Codex were there as well. They'd hidden it in a storage room underground protected with various spells and runes. This was where Esme would go before she went on a hunt.

For about an hour she scrambled around the room looking for a book that she'd put in the maybe pile. Eventually coming across it covered in dust and soot.

The Verbis Diablo.

Basically like the opposite of the Shadowhunter's codex they learnt from.

Esme picked the cursed book up and opened it. In the middle of the book was a section on bonding ceremonies-the mark on the paper and on her mother's neck was the very same one she wore.

"Oh mother what have you done?" Esme whispered, reading the passage over.

 _A proposed bond mate or match can only be successfully completed if the other party submits total control._

She tapped the page a little and got to her feet, she needed to brain storm and Magnus was the only one who would listen. Esme closed the door and shoved the book into her bag as she went.

"Hello Esme."

She froze.

Standing in the middle of the tracks right in her path stood her mother. Hair pulled back into a serious braid, dressed to the nines in combat gear and flanked by two greater demons just like Luke had said she was.

"Mother?" Esme gasped.

"It appears you and I need to talk," she smiled. "Your father wants to meet you."

Esme snorted. "My father is dead. You killed him."

Gwendoline laughed. "Angus Nighthallow was not your father," she told her. "As if I would let that filth touch me! Not when everything was so important. What happened after you is of no consequence."

Esme curled her fists. "As if you could say that. Stephanie and Oscar were children and you murdered them!" She suddenly found herself wishing that she had some kind of weapon on her.

Gwendoline crossed over to her. "Silly, silly, girl. We shall meet with your father and he will have the Mortal Cup by day's end." She took Esme's hands and held them with a smile on her face. "It's time to pick a side, Esme. Us or them?"

Esme pulled her hands away. "Are you Forsaken?" she asked her mother.

"I am free," Gwendoline grinned. "And you will be too. We just need to make one modification and your father will welcome you with open arms and a court to rule over in fear and power." She took and object out of boot that looked like a stele but really wasn't. "This will only hurt a little."

"So will this," Gabriella spoke, a seraph blade piercing the chest of a demon to Gwendoline's right. "Esme!" She tossed a second blade over to the girl and went for the second demon.

Gwendoline screamed.

"TRAIN!" Esme yelled. She and Gabriella flattened themselves against the wall and watched as Gwendoline and the demon disappeared. She counted the cars, from what she could see, Gabriella was doing it as well.

The two of them as one reached out and grabbed the rails at the end of the train. It yanked them off their feet and they were flying in mid-air as they struggled to get their feet on the ground.

Gabriella got there first, sparing no time in helping Esme.

"Thank you," Esme gasped.

"You looked like you needed the help," Gabriella breathed heavily as they got into the train. "What did your mother want anyway?"

"Nothing," she lied. "Nothing at all."


	7. Chapter 7

**++++++ Sorry about the update gap. Life got in the way.**

 **I hope you enjoy.**

 **I do not own ++++++**

 **Seven**

"Drinking before five? My, my, something bad must have happened to you this afternoon,' Magnus teased as he found Esme at the bar pouring herself a whisky.

"My mother is certifiable!" Esme snapped.

"Ah," Magnus frowned, "better make that a double." He took the decanter from her hands and added more to her glass. "How is dear Gwendoline?"

"Oh she remarried," Esme shrugged, "and has TWO greater demons as body guards." She pointed to the black book sitting on the table. "The Verbis Diablo-my mother wears a bonding mark on her body-that's the mark."

Magnus scrunched his face up. "Why did you bring that thing here? Horrible book. I don't even know why you have it in the first place."

"Magnus I know I've asked you this question before but what do you know about me?" she inquired. "You know something, it's written on your face every time I ask you about myself."

Magnus frowned. "Esme, I promise you I know nothing. I'm doing this as a favour to Jocelyn. It also helps the downworlders to have a shadowhunter like you on their side."

She pressed her lips together, not believing anything he said for a second. Esme drank the whole glass and poured herself another. "Whatever is going on…my mother wants the cup for her new husband-my father." She drank the second glass but didn't pour herself another. "I wonder how much trouble I'll cop for going to the Silent City?"

"Probably a lot," Magnus replied. He threw a napkin over the top of the Verbis Diablo so he couldn't see it. "There. Much better. Now-why would you want to see Silent Brothers?" he inquired.

She shrugged. "I don't know. There has to be something inside my mind that knows what my mother wants…" Esme stopped mid-sentence and sighed. "I really need to be focusing on the Mortal Cup-is Valentine gets it before the Clave do-we're all screwed. Majorly."

"So after all these years, you'll risk yourself by working with the Clave?" Magnus asked her. "How…noble isn't the world. Foolish. Stupid. Moronic. You will be going back to the Institute?" That question was followed by a smirk with a twinkle in his yellow eyes.

Esme frowned. "Magnus Bane what are you up to?"

"Can you deliver something for me?" The warlock crossed the room and came back with an envelope addressed to Alexander Lightwood, written in a delicate cursive script. "I would be forever in your debt."

Esme snatched the envelope. "You're already in my debt, Bane. But yes I'll take it." She grabbed the book and the napkin and slipped them under her arm as she sauntered away to her room. Unlike the rest of Magnus' place, Esme's room was covered in books and weapons and clothes-it was a typical shadowhunter teenagers room. She put the items in her arms down and went to change. She put on a pair of black jeans with ankle booties, a red t-shirt underneath a black three quarter vest, pulling her hair up in a bun, Esme went to her weapons rack and put on a quiver before arming herself to the teeth.

"You look like you're heading into battle," Magnus teased when Esme came back out. "Don't forget the letter," he grinned.

Esme raised an eyebrow. "Like I'll forget you're getting the hots over a shadowhunter let alone a Lightwood. Don't wait up, Magnus."

"I never do," he replied. "You could be bleeding in a ditch somewhere and I'd be the last person to know."

She rolled her eyes as she drew the invisibility rune in her stomach. Esme put her stele back into her jeans pocket and left the room.

 **-XXX-**

Not expecting the Institute to let her inside, Esme was bold enough to try and let herself in. The huge double doors sprung open in a matter of seconds letting her inside. As she closed the doors behind her, she heard footsteps coming down the corridor and turned to see Jace with his head in a book.

"What are you doing here?" Jace frowned, coming across Esme in the foyer as she closed the door.

"The Institute let me in," Esme grinned.

"Weird," Jace muttered. "At least the building likes you-that's a plus."

"Fuck you, Wayland," Esme frowned. "I'm on an errand for Magnus-where's Alec's room?"

"What does Magnus want with Alec?" Jace asked her. "He's probably with Gabriella fishing for a kiss. They're supposed to marry soon."

"I noticed," Esme frowned, "you seem to enjoy making fun of them because of it?"

A wicked smile formed on Jace's face. "How did you guess?"

"You've a little evil on your face," Esme replied. "Now-Alec?"

"He's in the training room with Izzy and the rest," Jace answered. "I was just heading that way. Gabby thought it would be a good idea to show Clary some basics and everyone decided to join in. I'll take you."

"You're not worried about the exile being here?" Esme asked him.

"Nope," Jace replied. "Besides Gabby's eviler than you. Now that her _parabatai_ is here she's relaxed a little though."

As the two of them walked, she was in awe of the fact that the Institute had actually let her inside. At least the building didn't think she was evil. It was becoming an occurring theme the days. They came to the training room and Jace waltzed in like life could only truly begin now that he was there.

"Jace!" Clary grinned, her face lighting up when she saw him. "Hi Esme!" she practically bounced over to them. "What are you doing here?"

"Dropping something off for the High Warlock," Esme answered. She looked around Clary to the blonde and the brunette on the training mat and bit her lip. _Parabatai's_ were so enchanting to watch. Esme herself was just days away from becoming _parabatai's_ with her best friend Alice Whitestar when she was exiled. She sighed and walked to Alec who was watching Clary and Jace with distain all over his face. "Alec, Isabelle. Afternoon."

"Hey, Esme!" Isabelle grinned. "It's good to see you again. What are you doing here?"

"Delivering a letter," Esme grinned. "For Alec." She took the letter out of her vest and gave it to the confused shadowhunter. "And I have some intelligence to share with you all once you're done training."

Isabelle sighed. "Boring. I'd rather sit here and watch Eric."

Esme raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Eric Whiteblood," Alec frowned, "he's Gabriella's _parabatai._ "

"And also the son of the best shadowhunter in the history of shadowhunters," Esme muttered. "His family practically runs the Clave."

"Gabriella and Eric have been best friends since they were children," Alec frowned. "They became _parabatai_ in secret with the support of his mother. Naturally Eric's father was furious but they had done it."

Isabelle laughed. "Since when did you become such a gossip?" she asked her brother.

"Shut up, Izzy," Alec scowled. He kicked off the wall and let loose a whistle loud enough to catch everyone's attention. "Esme wants to talk."

Gabriella and Eric went to get a drink and came over. "How are you?"

"Fine," Esme answered. "Didn't tell them?" she asked her.

"Tell us what?" Jace asked as Gabriella shook her head.

"Esme and I killed two greater demons this afternoon," Gabriella confessed. She looked to her _parabatai_. I just got so distracted with you getting her Eric that I simply forgot to mention it."

Her _parabatai_ laughed. "Of course. Who's this?"

"Esme Ravenscar," Gabriella introduced, "this is Eric Whiteblood. Eric, this is Esme."

"Didn't you used to be Nighthallow?" Eric asked, not looking particularly fussed at her history. "So what have you got for us Esme?"

"The Verbis Diablo," she answered, producing the book. "Basically the demonic version of the bible and the Greybook. It led me back to my mother and to another party in play for the Mortal Cup."


End file.
